Is it possible for a baby to have a broken collarbone?

Absolutely. In fact, the collarbone is the bone most often broken (fractured) in childhood. Babies and children are prone to breaking collarbones because they don't completely harden until adulthood.

The collarbones, or clavicles, are the long bones that help connect the shoulder girdle to the rib cage. A fracture can happen when a child falls on her shoulder or on an outstretched hand. And it's not rare for babies to break a collarbone during a difficult delivery or a breech birth.

What are the symptoms?

If a baby has a broken collarbone, she probably won't want to move her arm on the side of the break. She may hold it close to the side of her body, although this may instead be a sign of nursemaid's elbow.

She'll have pain (she may cry out if you pick her up under her arms, for example) and perhaps swelling, and you may see bruising or a bump where the bone is broken. Within about a week, she'll develop a lump (called a callus) where the bone is healing. Sometimes this lump is the only sign of a fracture in a baby.

How is a broken collarbone treated?

The doctor will examine your baby to make sure that no nerves or blood vessels were damaged when the bone was broken. He'll order an X-ray to see how bad the break is and exactly where it's located.

Many broken collarbones heal just fine without surgery, although sometimes the arm needs to be immobilized on the side of the break to allow the bone to heal. The doctor may use a sling or something called a figure-of-eight brace, which pulls your baby's shoulders back and holds everything in the right position for healing.

The doctor can show you the best way to lift and position your baby to keep from hurting her until she's healed. He may suggest giving your baby children's acetaminophen to relieve pain and applying an ice pack for the first 48 hours (15 to 20 minutes at a time every two to three hours or so throughout the day) to reduce swelling.

This Internet site provides information of a general nature and is designed for educational purposes only. If you have any concerns about your own health or the health of your child, you should always consult with a physician or other healthcare professional. Please review the Terms of Use before using this site. Your use of the site indicates your agreement to be bound by the Terms of Use.

This site is published by BabyCenter, L.L.C., which is responsible for its contents as further described and qualified in the Terms of Use.